Once there was a miller who was poor,
but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and
speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he said
to him,

"I have a daughter who can spin straw
into gold."

The king said to the miller,

"That is an art which pleases me
well; if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to
my palace, and I will put her to the test."

And when the girl was brought to him he
took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel
and a reel, and said,

"Now set to work, and if by to-morrow
morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night,
you must die."

Thereupon he himself locked up the room,
and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's daughter, and
for the life of her could not tell what to do -- she had no idea how straw
could be spun into gold, and she grew more and more frightened, until
at last she began to weep. But all at once the door opened, and in came
a little man, and said,

"Good evening, mistress miller, why
are you crying so?"

" Alas," answered the girl,
"I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it."

" What will you give me if I do it
for you?" said the mannikin.

"My necklace," said the girl.

The little man took the necklace, seated
himself in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and
the reel was full. Then he put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three
times round, and the second was full too. And so it went on until the
morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of gold.

By daybreak the king was already there,
and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart
became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into another
room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her to spin that
also in one night if she valued her life. The girl knew not how to help
herself, and was crying, when the door opened again, and the little man
appeared, and said,

"What will you give me if I spin
that straw into gold for you?"

"The ring on my finger," answered
the girl.

The little man took the ring, again began
to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering
gold. The king rejoiced beyond measure at the sight, but still he had
not gold enough, and he had the miller's daughter taken into a still larger
room full of straw, and said,

"You must spin this, too, in the
course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife."

Even if she be a miller's daughter, thought
he, I could not find a richer wife in the whole world.

When the girl was alone the manikin came
again for the third time, and said,

"What will you give me if I spin
the straw for you this time also?"

"I have nothing left that I could
give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me, if you should become
queen, to give me your first child."

Who knows whether that will ever happen,
thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing how else to help herself
in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and for that
he once more spun the straw into gold. And when the king came in the morning,
and found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage, and the pretty
miller's daughter became a queen.

A year after, she brought a beautiful
child into the world, and she never gave a thought to the manikin. But
suddenly he came into her room, and said,

"Now give me what you promised."

The queen was horror-struck, and offered
the manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child.
But the manikin said,

"No, something alive is dearer to
me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the queen began to lament and cry,
so that the manikin pitied her.

"I will give you three days' time,"
said he, "and if by that time you find out my name, then shall you
keep your child"

. So the queen thought the whole night
of all the names that she had ever heard, and she sent a messenger over
the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that there might
be. When the manikin came the next day, she began with caspar, melchior,
balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another, but to
every one the little man said,

"That is not my name."

On the second day she had inquiries made
in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there, and she repeated
to the manikin the most uncommon and curious.

"Perhaps your name is Shortribs,
orSheepshanks, or Laceleg?"

But he always answered,

"That is not my name."

On the third day the messenger came back
again, and said,

"I have not been able to find a single
new name, but as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest, where
the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there I saw a little house,
and before the house a fire was burning, and round about the fire quite
a ridiculous little man was jumping, he hopped upon one leg, and shouted
--

"Today I bake, to-morrow brew,the next I'll have the young
queen's child.
Ha! glad am I that no one knew
that Rumpelstiltskin I am styled."

You may imagine how glad the queen was
when she heard the name. And when soon afterwards the little man came
in, and asked,

"Now, mistress queen, what is my
name?"

At first she said,

"Is your name Conrad?"

" No."

" Is your name Harry?"

" No."

" Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?"

" The devil has told you that! The
devil has told you that!" cried the little man, and in his anger
he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went
in, and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands
that he tore himself in two.

A
note from the author:If
you got to this page from reading the chapter about the play, I'm glad
you like the book so far and I hope you keep reading!

--Libby
(the author) Email: Libby.Koponen@gmail.com

Remember,
if you write to me, I'll write back; and if you send me a picture you
drew or story you wrote, I'll post it.

If
you just got to this Web site: it has more
fairy tales, instructions for cat's cradle, and of course the story that
started it all, Blow Out the Moon.

I've
wanted to be a writer since I was six. I put a story I wrote
online, and in it the kids put on a play of "Rumplestiltskin."
So
many children wrote to me asking where they could read the
real story that I put it online.

And
so many kids wrote to me saying they loved my
story that it was published as a book! It's about a spunky
American girl who goes to an English boarding school.

You can get the
paperback online

Blow Out
the Moon
has won 2 awards and got really goodreviews, too, from young and old readers.